


Most Important Words

by ReleasingmyInsanity



Series: Classic Sesame Street Short Stories [3]
Category: Sesame Street (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Canon Character of Color, Deaf Character, ESL characters, Español | Spanish, F/M, Family, Getting Together, Mostly Canon Compliant, POV Character of Color, Sign Language
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-10-10
Packaged: 2019-05-02 08:53:40
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,456
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14541159
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReleasingmyInsanity/pseuds/ReleasingmyInsanity
Summary: A soulmate AU where the most important (non-romantic) thing your soulmate will ever say to you is written on your arm and why it took Maria and Luis so long to get together. (Formerly in my short stories collection fic).





	Most Important Words

**Author's Note:**

> Spanish words translated at the end.  
> Rafael and the briefly mentioned Molly were both major characters in season 3 but left after that.

Maria had always known that her soulmate would be someone she worked with. When she was a small child growing up in Puerto Rico she had spent hours puzzling over the strange words on her arm. They weren't in Spanish, she knew that. Not the Spanish that she spoke with her family.

Señor Figueroa set down the project he was working on and turned to his daughter. His rolled up sleeves revealing the words on his own arm, "Tú eres mi mejor amigo." Maria loved that her parents had identical marks. Marks generally worked as a pair, but they were rarely exactly the same.

"Déjame ver ahora," he said, taking her arm so that he could read the writing. "No sólo consideré darle un aumento, yo iba a preguntar si usted quería ser un socio." He read, smoothly translating her mark from English to Spanish.

"What does it mean?" She asked in English. She had not understood before why her mother was so insistent that she learn both Spanish and English. But now she wanted to practice her English as much as possible.

Her father had laughed, patting her hand. "It means my María, that you will be a hard worker and your soulmate will appreciate you for it.

When she began school Maria quickly became the most proficient English speaker in her class. And even tutored other students who were struggling. She loved that her parents were proud of her. But admitted that she wanted to be able to speak to her apparently English-speaking soulmate.

She was thrilled the day she could finally read her words for herself. "I not only considered giving you a raise, I was going to ask you if you wanted to become a partner."

\--

When he was a boy, Luis didn't give that much thought to the words written on his arm. Once they were explained to him he didn't worry about it. There were too many interesting things to do on the ranch to worry about some girl that he was supposed to be with. He'd meet her when he met her.

When he got to school his interests focused more on building things with his best friend Rafael. Than on girls or soulmates or even learning to read English. Although his soulmark was in English rather than Spanish. Luis initially struggled with English, although his family tried to help. He couldn't bring himself to care enough to learn another language.

But something changed the day that he realized that he had learned to read enough English that he could pick out specific words in his soulmark. "If you're algo, algo the...I've...you algo me a algo," he read proudly to his Tío José.

Tío José smiled, "Si practicas, eventualmente aprenderás a leerlo todo. If you practice, eventually you'll learn to read the whole thing."

Luis still wasn't very interested in any soulmate. But the idea of learning to read his mark was intriguing. After all, his grandparents were soulmates, his parents had been soulmates. Maybe a soulmate was just another sort of best friend.

"Todo bien, Tío. Lo intentaré."

And try he did. English was still a struggle, but Luis was determined to learn. He eventually became fluent, but the proudest day for him was when he could finally read every word. "If you're really happy about the work I've been doing then you should give me a raise."

\--

When she was young, Maria was obsessed with the idea of her soulmate. But as she got older, she realized that your soulmate isn't the only person you can love.

There's your family of course, you love them first, and she loved her mother, and the memories she had of her father. She loved her family back in Puerto Rico, and the relatives she had met in the states. But it wasn't until she moved to Sesame Street that Maria truly learned about love.

Love seemed to be everywhere on Sesame Street. Everyone talked about it and no one felt that they couldn't tell others that they loved them. And there were so many people to love.

She made friends with everyone. With Susan and Gordon, the married soulmate couple that everyone looked up to. She was friends with Mr. Hooper, and Bob, and Rafael, and Luis, and Molly, and any number of strange creatures and children, even a few strange creatures who _were_ children.

There was Linda, who quickly became Maria's best friend, and there was David. David was different. While they made friends just as easily with each other as they did with the others, there was more to their relationship than that. David wasn't her soulmate. She knew that from the first and so did he, but there was an attraction that neither one cared to deny.

And so they dated. David was very sweet and understanding when Maria made it clear that she couldn't imagine spending forever with someone who wasn't her soulmate. But that she didn't see any reason to ignore a good thing when she had it. They had an agreement. If one found their soulmate, there would be no jealousy, no bitter breakup. Maria and David would be happy for each other and remain the best of friends.

Time went on, in the strange floaty way it seemed to have on Sesame Street. Maria graduated college, spent some time working on a construction site, and accepted happily when Luis offered her a job in the fix-it shop.

She went on trips with her neighbors, to New Mexico and Hawai'i. Made new friends, and said goodbye to some as they moved away. She celebrated her 21st birthday by going back to Puerto Rico with her friends. Thrilled that her family loved them as much as she did.

Before she knew it, she had been on Sesame Street for nine years and couldn't imagine ever leaving. But there was one thing that bothered her. After all the work she had been doing, Luis was still paying her the same amount as when he first hired her. Wasn't it about time for a raise?

\--

The day he arrived on Sesame Street, Luis couldn't have been happier. He had his best friend and they had a plan. Luis and Rafael rented an apartment and realized their dream of opening a fix-it shop. Something they had wanted to do since they were kids.

And the longer they lived on Sesame Street the more Luis realized that he never wanted to leave. Sure, he missed the ranch and his family but he could always visit them. This was his home now and he loved it. He had wonderful new friends, his dream job, and his oldest friend was his partner, things were perfect. Until the day things changed.

"I found them!" Rafael shouted excitedly, bursting through the door into the fix-it shop.

Luis looked up from the watch he was fixing. "You found who? Was someone missing?"

"My soulmate! Who else?"

Luis grinned. "That's fantastic man!"

It _was_ fantastic, until Rafael announced that he was leaving. His soulmate was moving, and he was going to go with them. Luis felt hurt that his best friend would choose someone else over him.

"Hey, don't worry," Rafael told him when Luis expressed his disappointment. "You'll find your person eventually."

He wouldn't listen to Luis's protests that it wasn't finding his soulmate he was concerned about. It was losing his best friend. But life went on. Rafael sold his share of the fix-it shop to Luis and left with his soulmate. Luis missed him but they spoke regularly and the two kept up their friendship. Luis hired Maria to be his assistant and never regretted it, she was fantastic at fixing things.

His admiration for her work only grew when he brought some of his friends back to New Mexico with him to help build his grandparents' new house. Gordon and Bob tried hard, but it was clear that the two city boys were completely out of their element. Big Bird was too young to do much of the work, and Oscar of course was no help at all. But Maria was amazing. She could help out anywhere, building the house, chores, exercising the horses. And she had charmed his family immediately.

"Tus amigos son muy amables," Luis's abuelo told him.

"Sí lo son," Luis said.

"Especialmente María. ¿Es ella tu alma gemela?"

Luis stared at his abuela, certain that he had misheard the question. "María? No no. Ella no es mi alma gemela, ella tiene un novio."

"No estar tan seguro. Ustedes dos estarían bien juntos," she said.

Luis's grandparents smiled knowingly and he was sure he was blushing terribly. He was never telling Maria about this conversation. She couldn't be his soulmate. Could she?

Five years later Luis had forgotten all about his grandparents' hinting. But not about what a great worker Maria was. He should give her a raise. No, even better, he should make her his partner.

\--

Luis looked up as the bell on the door tinkled. "Hi María."

"Can I talk to you?" Maria asked.

"Sure."

"It's about my job." Maria said nervously.

 _That_ got Luis' attention. She didn't want to quit did she? "What, is there a problem?"

Maria shook her head. "No no, there's no problem, but I've been thinking. I've been working here for a pretty long time now. And since we've remodeled the shop I've been doing a lot more complicated stuff than I used to do before. And it seems to me that you seem to be happy with the work that I'm doing. And if you're really happy about the work I've been doing then you should give me a raise." The words came faster and faster as she spoke.

Luis couldn't help but laugh, she looked so worried. Maria groaned and put a hand over her face as Luis figured out a response.

"María," he patted her arm reassuringly. "Of course I'm happy with your work. I think you do terrific work. You've learned the business as well as I."

Maria looked up, "yeah?"

Luis smiled. "As a matter of fact, I'm glad you brought it up. I've been thinking about it. And I not only considered giving you a raise, I was going to ask you if uh, if you wanted to become a partner in the store."

Maria stared at Luis like she had never seen him before. "A partner!? You want _me_ to be a partner?"

Luis explained, laughing, that what he had in mind was for them to be co-owners of the shop and share the profits equally. Maria accepted the position eagerly, shaking his hand and rounding the workbench to hug him.

"Listen, I'll see you tomorrow morning as a partner!" Maria left the shop, clearly on cloud nine.

Luis shook his head affectionately and went back to work. He repaired a clock, a toaster, and a blender before he realized. She'd been speaking so quickly that he almost missed it, but he recognized some of the words Maria had said. They were written on his arm, and that meant... Luis dropped the screwdriver he was holding, it clattered to the floor but he didn't bother to pick it up, too busy heading for the door. "María!"

\--

Maria couldn't get over it. Not only a raise but a promotion, and to partner. This had to be the greatest thing that had ever happened to her.

"Linda!" She waved to her best friend. _You'll never guess what just happened._

 _"What? Tell me."_ Linda signed.

Maria grinned and told her all about how she had decided to ask for a raise and what had happened when she asked.

 _"...And then he said 'I've been thinking about it. And'_..." Maria trailed off. "Oh." She pushed up her sleeve and stared at the words written there. _He said this._

Linda grinned. " _Congratulations. You and Luis, that's so great."_

 _"But I don't know how to feel about this._ Maria signed, _I mean, Luis is my soulmate, but we've only ever been friends. I'm not in love with him."_

Linda laughed. " _That's what I said about Bob."_

Maria laughed along with her friend but still wasn't sure what to think.

 _"It's going to be fine."_ Linda assured her. " _Just go talk to him and everything will work itself out."_

Maria stood. _"You're right, I have_ to _talk to Luis. Thanks."_

"Good luck." Linda said as Maria headed back to the fix-it shop.

"Oof." Maria and Luis collided in the doorway.

"I'm sorry," Luis said, helping her up. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," she assured him as she righted herself. "But I, er, well... Here," Maria pushed her sleeve back up so that Luis could read his words written on her arm.

Luis grinned as he showed her the words on his own arm. "I know. We're soulmates."

Maria smiled widely. "I'm glad it's you," she confessed. "You're such a great friend."

"I'm glad it's you too," Luis said. Then a thought struck him. "What about David?"

"Don't worry." Maria reassured him. "We always knew we weren't soulmates. It was pretty clear that I wasn't going to go and work on his grandmother's farm. Besides, we always had an agreement."

She explained what she and David had decided about soulmates, then asked a question. "What do we do now?"

"Maybe we don't have to figure this out right away." Luis said. "We can take our time and decide for ourselves what being soulmates means for us."

"I agree. But, um..." Maria paused for a moment and looked at him. "Tú me gustas." She said quickly.

Luis smiled. "Tú también me gustas."

\--

Time passed, much as it had before. Only now, Maria and Luis knew that they were soulmates and tried to figure out what that meant. Their happily coupled friends had told them that being soulmates and falling in love went together. But was that always the case?

Apparently it _was_ the case. At least for them. As they discovered one January day when some prying questions from Big Bird and Snuffy provided the answer.

"I'm in love with him! I'm in love with Luis!"

"I'm in love with her! I'm in love with María!"

They ran to tell each other, and their first kiss was better than they could have imagined. Even in spite of the interruption from their nosy friends.

Holding her in his arms, Luis finally understood why Rafael had left. He would follow Maria anywhere. Fortunately, he didn't have to.

"I love you María," he said again just because he could.

Maria smiled, looking as happy as he had ever seen her. "I love you too Luis." She pulled him down and kissed him again.

**Author's Note:**

> Sesame Street has been brought to you today by the letters S, and A, and by the number 2.
> 
> I don't speak Spanish so I mainly relied on Google translate. Please let me know if I got anything wrong and I'll correct it. 
> 
> Spanish-speaking characters translating their words into English is for two reasons: trying to capture the feeling of the show, and because they're trying to help young Maria and Luis learn English.
> 
> Episodes quoted from are 1563 and 2404.
> 
> By the way, Linda has Bob asking her to help him learn more sign language and David has something like "your grandmother hired me to help her run the farm."
> 
> If you squint you'll notice some hints that both Luis and Rafael are not entirely straight.
> 
> Translations:  
> Pero qué dice Papá = But what does it say, Dad?"  
> Tú eres mi mejor amigo = You're my best friend. (Technically Maria's mother would have "amiga" on her mark instead of amigo.)  
> Déjame ver ahora = Let me see now.  
> Algo = Something  
> Todo bien, Tío. Lo intentaré. = All right, Uncle. I'll try.  
> Tus amigos son muy amables = Your friends are very nice.  
> Sí lo son = yes they are  
> Especialmente María. ¿Es ella tu alma gemela? = Especially Maria, is she your soulmate?"  
> María? No, no. Ella no es mi alma gemela, ella tiene un novio. = Maria? No, no. She's not my soulmate, she has a boyfriend.  
> No estar tan seguro. Ustedes dos estarían bien juntos. = Don't be so sure. You two would be good together."  
> Tu me gustas = I like you.  
> Tú también me gustas = I like you too.


End file.
